feminine-genius

Let's rethink this

Wonderful church-lady dedicates decades to filial piety and charitable projects. Upon her death at age 75, a minister at her church is rummaging through her personal items and discovers that her earlier years were spent on-stage, touring, and singing. What to do at the funeral?

"[R]eading through the cuttings it has become apparent just how big a star she really was. She became a Bluebell girl, toured Europe and even appeared on stage at the Windmill Theatre. One cutting shows she also appeared on stage at Sheffield's Lyceum Theatre.

"Afterwards she settled in Italy where she went on to become a major jazz star. She lived in Milan and appeared on stage and TV, and had a number one hit. I am currently trying to get this digitally reworked so it can be played at her funeral.

Ahem. If she didn't tell anyone, perhaps there was a reason. While there is no indication that any of her past involved objective sin, it is entirely possible that she wanted to be remembered for her faith. To leave such a past behind, as in really behind, indicates that the present was sufficient and that her faith in God and His promises for the future sufficed.

Remarkable how the religious body in question is spinning this in the wrong direction. She could be a remarkable testament to the fact that Christ Jesus is far more important than the shabby pleasures of the world, but it would seem that even her minister thinks that the faith community would be far more tickled to see photos of her legs and a recording of an old song.

"Zoe was very precious to us. But she never boasted about her past life. She was obviously profoundly gifted. She was very glamorous - had long hair that was always tied back, and always looked very nice."

Bass ackward, as some would say. I'd say her gifts in the latter years trumped the pony-tail.

Heroic gift

Four months into her fourth pregnancy, Lorraine Allard discovered that she was suffering from an advanced state of cancer. As usual, the medical community ignored the life of the child and suggested abortion and immediate chemo. The determined mother said no.

Instead, she insisted on waiting long enough to give her unborn son a chance to survive, telling her husband, Martyn: "If I am going to die, my baby is going to live."

A Caesarian section was scheduled at 26 weeks but Mrs Allard, 33, went into premature labour a week before and Liam was born on November 18. She then began chemotherapy but passed away on January 18, having left her sickbed a handful of times to cradle her son in her arms beside his incubator.

Yesterday, Mr Allard said: "Lorraine was positive all the way through. She had strength for both of us. I can't begin to describe how brave she was. Towards the end we knew things weren't going well but she was overjoyed that she had given life to Liam."

A lovely testament, a heavy cross for the widower and his children, but a decision that sheds its own peace, because of the integrity on which it was founded. Prayers for this family -- we're grateful for such witness.

[Thankfully, this story ended a little more happily.]

Welcome to pod-ville

Lisa Hendey of Catholic Moms graciously took the time to interview me on this week's segment of Catholic Moments. Thirty-five minutes of interesting stuff--definitely a medium to keep track of. Conversation with yours truly begins a little after half way.

The Reed of God

Elena Vidal has done an excellent job in summarising the life and theology of Caryll Houselander. Any book of hers to be found is a treasure, and she provides one of those remarkable lives that are obviously attributable to God's grace well-received.

Born to a pair of attractive, extroverted and athletic parents ill-equipped to deal with a homely,introverted and artistically-sensitive child, throughout her childhood and adolescence Caryll endured protracted sieges of psychological and physical suffering. Caryll's relationship with her mother was a particularly difficult one. Always impulsive and erratic, yet capable of great generosity on her own terms, Gertrude Houselander was the classic type of Englishwoman who could treat animals and assorted misfits with great tenderness and her own children with massive insensitivity.

And yet through it all, God will provide. Not only would the wounds be dressed and soothed, but their very presence would be the foundation of a heroic empathy that could have grown no other way. All things can work together unto good, as the Scriptures promise.

I liked especially the irony that was revealed, in that she well understood the tragedies in the world and yet never lost her biting wit. It seems to be a wide-spread Catholic attribute: to be able to chuckle at ourselves while weeping all the same.

This should encourage many who have lived through trials or have witnessed the deficits in the lives of so many others. We can pray like mad for children who endure much, while resting in the confidence that God can make something of it -- something beautiful and life-giving. For where there's life, there's hope.

The limits of womanhood

The ever-eloquent defender of authentic masculinity, Anthony Esolen, has a lovely essay on the Boys Scouts, noting that one troop had an unprecedented eleven Eagle Scouts recently, which has turned heads even at the Washington Post.

The boys, who called themselves the Viking Patrol, were initially a bunch of whiners and losers, "ninnies" as one of the leaders called them, lying down in the middle of the trail along one of their first hikes, a gentle three-miler.

     The article doesn't give too many details about what transformed them.  A couple of things do stand out, though.  The leaders seem to have responded to the boys' sissiness by making things more difficult for them, not easier.  The turning point came when, on a hike in Alaska, the boys didn't want to pitch their tents, didn't want to hang their food up so as not to attract bears, didn't want to set up their latrines, and so on.  So the leaders left them to themselves.  The result was that they did organize themselves after all; they formed a team, and got the jobs done.  After that, they were on their way.

Where this intersects with the vocation to femininity is the realm of understanding that men are formed, ultimately, by other men. Steel on steel. What would I have done if a little fellow fell whimpering onto the path, sure he couldn't continue? Maybe sit with him encouraging, wheedling, challenging, etc. But leaving him? Never. That's the difference, and it worked. We coddle and comfort, which has its place, but that's not what makes boys into men.

The title, Per Aspera ad Astra, translates into "through adversity to the stars" indicating the firm place that trials should have in the formation of young men. Few of us resort to bubble wrap, but the temptation is great. Esolen knows the dangers and suggests this line for a political candidate (given the controversy surrounding public funding of a group guilty of "hate crimes.")

What if a man like Mr. Obama could set aside the metaphysics of the Left, and notice, as a plain matter of fact, that the Boy Scouts work.  Such a man could then say, to those who would harry the organization out of existence, "Leave it alone.  I don't agree with some of their principles, but I don't see anything else on the horizon that works as well as they do.  By executive order, I will funnel as much money as I can to cities and counties to work with the Scouts, because I care about one thing and that alone: to save as many boys as I can from the gangs, the gutters, and the grave.  I want results."

Highly unlikely, but that doesn't stop us from putting programs into place that will allow boys to rub shoulders with men. Sadly fathers aren't always available, so men may have to reach beyond their own progeny, for the sake of the wider community. We have to back these initiatives with prudence and prayer.

Lovely resource

I've just been tipped off about an excellent resource, called Second Spring, whose current issue is dedicated to "The Genius of Woman." Many may know the names of Stratford and Leonie Caldecott from their rich essays in Catholic World Report. I didn't know they had a journal, but lo -- it can be ordered here. I've just now requested my first issue. I can make out some of the names of the authors on the cover, which lets me know it will be excellent. Kudos to Thomas More College for making this possible.

Confess -- it's true!

An excellent [light-hearted] summary of men and women.

How brilliant is this?

After a highly publicised marriage and the birth of two children, young pop star Britney Spears has been spiralling out of control, with the gory details at every local check-out stand. While in one of those grocery lines, thoughtful convert and blogger Jen noted:

[She] evidently had a complete nervous breakdown a couple weeks ago and was taken to the hospital. As I flipped through the pitiful pictures of her strapped down to a stretcher, looking at the camera with a dazed, tear-streaked face, I realized that the song playing on the radio was hers.

Jennifer has inklings about what may be going wrong in this poor girl's melting mind, and it may have much to do with the dichotomy between the public's demand for flesh and flash, while the soul seeks authenticity. Now we're not supposed to dwell on the fact that the terrific blogger seems quite familiar with many details of Spears' musical career (pace!) but if she weren't, how would we arrive at such crystallised thought as this?

At the time, I was part of the segment of society where traditional feminine qualities are disdained. As a woman you could express any desire, show any side of your personality, so long as it didn't involve behaviors that humans have always associated with women, like maternal instincts, the longing to nurture others, feeling sentimental, having fluctuating emotions based on your body's rhythms, wanting to be cherished by men, etc. Probably due to a lot of the recent changes in modern society -- high on the list being the constant touting of contraception as a good thing, making us start to feel that what it's "curing" must be a bad thing -- all the nurturing, life-giving aspects of being a woman were scorned. This left a huge elephant in the room around which we had to maneuver, and the result was that the two main options for acceptable behavior from women were either to act like a sex object or a man (or both, a la Sex in the City).

Great insight. Jen labels it the Britney Spears Syndrome, since that wild child slithered into sex object while trying to combine it with motherhood on "fast lane" terms. (Add to it post-partum hormones and hitting the wall was the only logical outcome.) Makes perfect sense to me.

Interestingly, the very integration that is so badly missing from these "liberated" women's lives is embodied in JP2's Mulieris Dignitatem, which is celebrating a birthday this year. Lent's coming -- how about putting it on your reading list and pulling together a study group to while away the time before Easter?